Leadership and Conflict

Marc Saperstein is Professor of Jewish Studies at King's College London, and Professor of Jewish History and Homiletics at Leo Baeck College, London, where he formerly served for five years as Principal. He is the author of several books, and is widely recognized as the leading authority in this generation on the history of the Jewish sermon in medieval and modern times.

• Note on TransliterationIntroduction PART I: Two Modes of Rabbinic Leadership 1 The Preaching of Repentance and the Reforms in Toledo, 1281 2 Legal Decision-Making in Fourteenth-Century Toledo: The Responsa of Rabbi Judah ben Asher PART II: Intellectual Challenge and Conflict 3 Philosophy and Jewish Society in the Late Middle Ages 4 The Conflict over the Ban on Philosophical Study, 1305: A Political Perspective 5 Cultural Juxtapositions: Problematizing Scripture in Late Medieval and Jewish Exegesis 6 Ein li esek banistarot: Saul Levi Morteira’s Sermons on Parashat 'Bereshit'PART III: Leaders Facing Communities in Upheaval 7 Jewish Leadership in the Generation of the Expulsion 8 Rabbis, Martyrs, and Merchants: Jewish Communal Conflict as Reflected in the Responsa on the Boycott of Ancona 9 Four Kinds of Weeping: Saul Levi Morteira’s Application of Biblical Narrative to Contemporary Events 10 Attempts to Control the Pulpit: Medieval Judaism and Beyond PART IV: Conflicting Attitudes towards Exile, the Land, and the Messiah 11 ‘Arab Chains’ and ‘The Good Things of Spain’: Aspects of Jewish Exile 12 The Land of Israel in Pre-Modern Jewish Thought: A History of Two Rabbinic Statements 13 Messianic Leadership in Jewish History: Movements and Personalities Bibliography Index of Passages Cited General Index

'Marc Saperstein has written several books on medieval and modern rabbinic literature. Every one of them has achieved a rare balance between deep erudition and broad perspective . . . a fascinating and crucial take on the topic. The book is an important contribution to the study of Jewish philosophy and social history.'Pinchas Roth, Jewish